The Final Howl

Meghan was naked and apparently in some sort of drugged state but working for Bo Benjamin the

bodyguards had become used to such sights.

"How did this guy get in here?" said one of the security men.

If Bo had looked at Will the singer might have recognised him as the guy who dragged him

out of the airplane seat next to Meghan, but he did not. As far as he was concerned the body on the

floor was just another stalker and a violent one. Neither of the bodyguards had been with Bo on the

plane so they also did not recognise Will. They only knew that it was Ms Chalmers' suite.

"Get him out of here," snapped Bo. "And talk to the hotel about security. Tell them I'm not

happy."

"Yes, boss," said the senior man.

"He's been stabbed," said the other man, turning Will over. A huge blood stain was

spreading over the front of his shirt and onto the tan writer jacket with padded elbows he had taken

to wearing. "Doesn't look so bad but better get him to a hospital."

Meghan, reacting to a passing cloud she could see through the glass balcony door, giggled.

"I was defending myself," snapped Benjamin. "Get rid of that letter opener I think it is and

tell the police that we don't know how that happened. Call the hotel people. Get him out of here and

to a hospital."

"You've got it, boss," said the guards.

Benjamin carried Meghan off the suite's main bedroom, the bodyguards carried Will out the

door, passed the suitcase and shoulder bag Will had left in the suite entrance way without really

noticing the items, and down to the lobby where the hotel staff hurriedly called an ambulance and

the police.

A little later Bella returned to the suite to remind her boss it was time to get ready for the

shoot to be confronted by two excited bodyguards the moment she opened the door.

"Oh it's you," said the senior guy. They told her what had happened. She was interested in

the story about the intruder. She did not connect that intruder to Will, whom she had never met and

was not due in for some time, or so she thought. Instead, she was astonished and gratified to hear

that her boss had apparently connected very strongly with Bo Benjamin. Mr Benjamin had an

entertainment industry stature that made him a worthy partner for Clarise Chalmers. The celebrity

wedding of the century was one step closer with Himbo Will an irritant to be dealt with later. In the

meantime, there was the problem of getting Meghan to the scheduled shooting for that day.

When the director's assistant called to find out where the star had got to, Bella asked to see

her boss. She found Meghan lying in bed beside Benjamin both apparently naked underneath the

covers and talked to her while Benjamin spoke on his own mobile to what Bella supposed was an

agent. The star acknowledged her assistant with a sleepy smile.

"Meghan, the people doing Alien Search called and they want you on set, are you going to

get up?"

The star giggled. "Don't want to. Want to stay here."

It occurred to Bella then that the star was deeply stoned and maybe drunk as well, as there

was an empty bottle of wine on her bedside table.

"There is also the question about what I tell Will."

"Like Will," she said, smiling. "Tell him what's good."

Bella tried a couple more questions but it had occurred to her that getting Meghan into a

state fit for work that day would not be possible in any case and called the Alien Search people to

tell them that. This eventually resulted in her speaking to the director, a gay Englishman called

Liam, who had worked with Meghan before and knew her to be hard working and reliable.

"She's basically excusing herself to have sex with Bo Benjamin?" said Liam, astonished.

Bella had not told him about Meghan also being stoned and drunk.

"Seems like they've really connected," she said. "She's sort of incommunicado right now.

The moment she's sensible I'll get on the phone to you."

Liam sighed. "Yeah, well, we can reschedule sort-of but streaming services are not like the

movies. The schedules are way tighter. I don't want to have to write her out of the series but that

can happen unless she's got a better excuse than rolling in the sack with her new boyfriend. What

happened to Will, incidentally?" Liam had spoken to the writer a few times and liked him. "How

did he take all this?"

"I'm still working on that. I haven't seen him to tell him."

"Poor lamb," said Liam.

Bella was not looking forward to telling Will but he did not turn up that evening, although

she waited in for him, trying not to listen to the sounds of Bo and Meghan, and unaware that Bo

was all but ensuring that Meghan was kept high despite the star, in a muddled way, attempting to

refuse the sticks.

The next day she walked twice through the suite's foyer, nodding to one of Bo's security

guys who was always there, before she thought to ask about the bags that had not been moved.

"Not us," said the guard. "I thought they were Ms Chalmers' bags or yours."

"No, not us," said Bella. She flipped open the shoulder bag, saw that it had a computer and

mobile phone. She also saw a ring case which she picked up and flipped open to briefly admire the

ring inside. Then she picked up the phone, pressed the button at the bottom and the screen shot of

Will and Meghan appeared. She knew Meghan, of course, and had to think for a moment about who

the man was as she had only ever seen pictures of Will.

"Oh my god, Will was here," she said, hand over her mouth.

"Who's Will?" asked the guard.

"Her boyfriend, or the guy who was her boyfriend. When did these bags get dropped here?"

"I dunno," said the guard.

"But was there anyone else here?"

"Just that intruder guy."

"Did he look like that?" Bella showed the guard the phone's cover picture.

"Yeah, that could be him."

"You idiots, that was her boyfriend. He had a keycard left for him at the hotel reception.

That's why he was in the room."

"He was attacking Mr Benjamin."

"She was her boyfriend. He was probably just pulling them apart. You should have just held

him rather than knocking him out."

"Who knew," said the bodyguard.

It took Bella a couple of hours and several calls to work out where Will had got to. He had

been given a minor operation for the stab wound, then held overnight at the hospital to ensure there

were no complications from being knocked unconscious before being transferred to a police station

for questioning. She went in to tell Meghan what had happened and the star grinned at her. Bo,

lying beside her on the bed and comparatively unaffected by the sticks they had both been smoking,

was highly amused.

"Hear that Clar?" he said. "Your boyfriend didn't realise you'd moved on and got stabbed

and arrested."

"Ish wonderful," said Meghan.

It was left to Bella to go to the police station with Will's bags and, after a brief explanation,

was led straight through to an interview room where Will was being questioned by two Canadian

detectives.

"Let's go through this again," Bella heard one detective say to Will. "You went to reception

and picked up a key card for Ms Chalmers' room."

"Left for me by arrangement," said Will. "Call the hotel."

"Excuse me guys," said the uniformed policeman escorting Bella. "You want to listen to this

lady. She's Clarise Chalmers' assistant."

"You must be Will," said Bella. "I'm Bella."

"Oh right, Meghan, I mean Clarise has spoken of you. Please tell these guys who I am?"

"Detectives this is Will, a member of Ms Chalmers' staff," said Bella. "There was a dreadful

mix up at the hotel. Mr Benjamin's bodyguards did not know who he was and thought he was

attacking Mr Benjamin. If you call the hotel you'll find that a Will Moreland was a guest at the

hotel and was given a key card for the suite reserved for Megan Kowalski – Ms Chalmers legal

name – at the front desk."

"I see," said the lead detective, surprised at Will's sudden exoneration. "We'll check but in

the meantime, Mr Moreland, here is your passport and wallet back and an apology it seems. Sorry,

man, we weren't told any of this."

"Forget it," said Will. "I just want out. I see you've got my bags, Bella."

"Then how come you got stabbed?" asked the second detective.

"In the confusion I ran into a knife – a letter opener on the desk in the living room - held by

Benjamin and Chalmers."

"Wild stuff," said the senior detective. "Do you want to make a formal complaint?"

"No I don't want to press charges, thank you," said Will, stiffly.

"Let's give you a hand with those bags," said the junior detective getting up.

"Guys, guys, it's okay," said Will, irritated. "I understand you were just doing your job with

the information you'd been given but let's go our own ways. I've had a hard time of late."

Will and Bella walked off down the corridor while the detectives hastily went in the other

direction.

"Sorry it took so long to work out what had happened," said Bella. Will was a himbo and

history, as far as she was concerned, but she had some sympathy for discarded lovers and he was

owed an apology. "I hope it wasn't too bad."

"I woke up handcuffed to a hospital bed."

They reached the lift and Will held the doors open for a moment so that an elderly lady

could get in – a routine act of courtesy that impressed Bella.

"You were operated on at the hospital?" she asked.

"The happy couple missed the intestines so all I really needed was stitching. They were

more concerned that I arrived unconscious but as I didn't seem to have concussion when I came too

they just kept me overnight."

They walked through the police station foyer.

"Is Meghan really with that Benjamin guy now?" he asked.

"Seems so," said Bella. "I'm sorry Will. I asked her what I should tell you and she said to

tell you whatever."

"Huh! Really! Hard to believe I'd be dropped just like that after we'd been going so well,

but they're engaged already?"

"Engaged?" said Bella. "Who's engaged?"

"Meghan and Benjamin. One of the nurses at the hospital told me this morning. News item

on the Sidewalk Stars site. I really can't believe she would do that."

'Um, well, a lot's happened while you've been away."

"Yeah, well, I guess it was all too good to be true. Should have known better after Violet.

Doomed again, that's me. Tell Meghan I'm sorry I couldn't make her happy."

He turned away from Bella, before the assistant could ask who Violet was, not wishing to

show that his eyes were now wet. He walked off, thinking that he might as well just go to the

airport.

In the taxi back to the hotel, Bella looked at the Sidewalk Stars site on her phone.

You heard it here first, the siren of the shower Clarise Chalmers and rock legend Bo

Benjamin have declared that they are engaged. The pair rekindled an old love when Bo dropped in

on Clarise in Toronto where she is filming the popular series Alien Search. Bo has declared he is

"over the moon" about the engagement but few other details are available yet. Don't worry folks

we'll keep you posted.

When Bella got back to the hotel Bo Benjamin had gone out and Meghan was sleeping, the

remains of a stick in a saucer by her bed, and she went back to her room sorely puzzled. Something

was amiss. In the middle of the night it occurred to her that Benjamin had called Meghan Clar, short

for Clarise, rather than Meghan. Anyone who knew her called her Meghan or even Meg, but not her

supposed fiancé. Then she recalled Will's automatic kindness in holding the lift doors open for an

old lady; Benjamin dismissing Will's plight with contemptuous indifference and Meghan's vacant

answers to her questions. Uh oh!

Yet it was a good match and, potentially, a blockbuster wedding. That wedding would

require considerable organisation by Ms Chalmers' hard-working staff and that meant Bella would

be kept on when Mia returned from her honeymoon, which would be soon, and when Emma

recovered from her heartbreak. There was also the undoubted problem that if Meghan and Will ever

connected again and started comparing notes, the star might take exception to Bella dumping Will

on her behalf. The more Bella thought about it, the more she realised how much trouble she could

get into. Then again, perhaps there was some genuine feeling between Meghan and Bo that needed

time to develop.

During the night, when all was quiet, Bella got up and found Meghan's phone where she had

left it in the suite's living room. She took it back to her room where she opened it – she had long

known Meghan's passcode, simply by observing the star when she used her phone – and wrote a

text to Will.

Sorry you had to hear about the engagement on the Sidewalk Stars site, Will, and I'm sorry

Bella had to be the one to tell you it was all over. Stuff happens. Thanks for the good times. Meg.

Bella sent that, deleted a text Will had already sent asking the star what was happening

along with a voice message, then blocked Will's phone number. After some fiddling around she

then deleted the text she had sent and edited Will's number so that it gave a "number not in service"

response. She returned the phone and went back to bed. That time she managed to sleep. Bella

admitted to herself that her interference was nasty and certainly beneath her, but she thought that in

the end all parties would eventually be better off. Even if Meghan did not end up with Bo she would

have her pick of eminently eligible men. Will was hot and seemed very nice. He would find a nice

girl in his own league and be much happier. It was the right thing to do.